Hand in Hand welcomes ‘Enough food for everyone IF’

23 Jan 2013

Hand in Hand believes that food for everyone and the eradication of extreme poverty rest on the twin foundations of increased food production amongst poor rural farmers and jobs that lift family incomes and enable the poor to buy the food they need.

Working in poor and marginalised rural communities in India, Afghanistan, Southern Africa and Eastern Africa, Hand in Hand has already provided over 800,000 people (the majority of whom are women) with the skills needed to expand and improve their subsistence farming practices or to start micro-enterprises. Food production and family incomes are increased, both of which contribute to food security and reduced poverty. To date Hand in Hand has helped generate over 1.3 million jobs (these impressive numbers have largely been achieved by Hand in Hand India).

Hand in Hand believes that job creation is the most effective way to eradicate extreme poverty and aims to create ten million sustainable jobs for the most marginalised populations of Asia and Africa by 2020, lifting 50 million people out of poverty.

So, Hand in Hand welcomes the recognition by the “Enough food for everyone IF…” Campaign of the importance of empowering small scale farmers:

“Simply targeting investment towards women farmers to provide them with as equal access to resources as men could reduce the number of hungry people by up to 150 million.”

And, what if everyone had a job? The recent World Bank 2013 World Development Report, “Jobs”, described how poverty falls as people work their way out of hardship and gives examples of the ways in which jobs enable women to invest more in their families, particularly their children.

The Hand in Hand job creation model, developed in India, promotes enterprise, opportunity, productivity and a path out of poverty for those living in the poorest and most marginalised communities. It provides the training, finance and support needed to set up and run a micro-enterprise so that those living in poor rural communities can increase their incomes and feed their families.

“We believe that jobs and decent employment are crucial to making progress on the issues raised today in the Campaign as we move beyond the Millennium Development Goals.” Sven Sandström, CEO Hand in Hand International